[ad_1]
ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule.
- The ANC NEC meeting heard open calls for Secretary General Ace Magashule to step aside.
- News24 understands that Ronald Lamola and Barbara Creecy have asked Magashule to leave their office.
- The virtual meeting heard a debate around the ANC’s side-by-side policy guidelines, the sources said.
The ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting heard calls on Saturday for Secretary General Ace Magashule to step down.
News24 understands that NEC members Ronald Lamola and Barbara Creecy clearly requested that the NEC adopt the ANC’s integrity committee report on Magashule, instructing it to step aside given it faces 21 counts of fraud, corruption. and money laundering.
Members of the NEC debated on Saturday afternoon guidelines for the party side-step policy previously presented by ANC General Treasurer Paul Mashatile.
In keeping with those guidelines, creating a task force led by Matthews Phosa, Kgalema Motlanthe, and other ANC veterans, party leaders accused of corruption should step aside.
If they do, they must be submitted to the commission that will evaluate the matter.
READ | Balance of power: ANC NEC meets, who will step aside?
If a commission recommendation that party leaders step aside is ignored, the guidelines recommend that the NEC then suspend that leader.
Supporters of President Cyril Ramaphosa argued that the guidelines should be adopted, and Lamola argued that this should apply to Magashule, as News24 understands.
Creecy is said to have argued that while the party deals with the step aside guidelines, Magashule must. He will appear in court on Friday in connection with the Free State asbestos case.
The commission recommended in December that Magashule must comply with an NEC decision that party leaders accused of corruption should stand down. He has challenged it ever since.
But sources said Magashule supporters insisted the guidelines needed more consultation with branches.
A source said:
“A lot of Ace supporters realized that they cannot oppose the guidelines. So what they are saying is that they must first talk to the branches about this before a decision is made.”
Another source said that some of Magashule’s supporters argued that because Mashatile’s report noted that the ANC constitution and resolutions were not consistent with the Constitution of the Republic, the matter should be addressed before the guidelines are implemented. .
“People like Dakota Legoete and Pule Mabe argued that the guidelines cannot be implemented if they are to change,” said a source.
Insiders said Magashule heard strong support, with some members of the NEC saying that if it had to step aside, then “half or even 80% of the NEC” should step aside because everyone was facing accusations.
Other Magashule supporters are said to have argued that the NEC should not be in a rush to implement the guidelines around the ANC’s step aside policy.
At the beginning of his speech, Ramaphosa said that the matter around the guidelines should be treated with “maturity”.
He expressed concern about the risk to the credibility of the ANC and the need for a resolution on the matter.
Sources said that Ramaphosa supporters argued at the meeting that the guidelines should be adopted and treated as a “living document.”
